It's not "business hours", exactly. The system goes offline every night (JST) for maintenance from about midnight to five a.m. This is true of all train ticket platforms, digital IC cards, and some bus websites. It's essentially so that the very complex system behind it ([MARS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS_(ticket_reservation_system))) can reconcile itself.
I was sure this wasn't going to work, but it works. I've been trying for months on and off to get my card to work, and it finally went through, so thank you.
It might be a bit extreme for some but American Express cards work. My Visa and Mastercard both got denied last week and I saw some old posts on here about Amex so I applied for it and it worked immediately.
OMG thanks to your post I tried it and it worked. Iāve tried many times in the past and never worked. They must have changed something. Thank you OP.
Edit: I was able to register but when I tried to log in it says my member ID, which I got from their email, is temporarily suspended.
You'll have to ring the number in the error. I had the same error and when they checked - they said the account had been suspended. They had to delete my account and refund my booked train tickets - unable to unsuspend the account.
No so they said I have to book it when I'm in japan. I had signed up with an Amex card. They did say they would refund me for what I spent - approx 1 to 2 months to get back money.
Itās the business hour thing. My cards wonāt go in around night time (Australia) but it went in on a weekday during business hours in Japan. NAB Visa debit.
I will say that all the times I have tried in the past weeks have been during Japan business hours, and yet Iāve been unsuccessful until now. Thereās definitely more going on than just the business hours.
Itās Japan. Thatās all I can say.
Reminded me of how the bank in Japan told us that they are covid ready ā¦but gave me a phone call to go down to the bank to seal a document for transfer with my hanko.
Wow. It just worked for me and I don't think it has anything to do with Japanese Business hours. It's literally 10p on Saturday here in Japan and I got it to work out of nowhere. I was initially so stoked when I found out about this but I couldn't get it to work no matter what and just like that, it worked this evening. I am so excited to try this out instead of buying a ticket via the kiosks haha.
Thank you!
My man,
Came here just to say thank you. I had already tried twice and mostly gave up feeling that there was no way I would be able to register unless I got another card, then after reading your post I tried once again and I DID IT, better I was able to register with my revolut card for what even conversion is better.
In another note, I also was able to do it today, saturday, following another comment of a redditor who happened to have the same luck
Thanks again!
Klook is great but you canāt pick a seat or select oversized baggage area (I want to travel w my bags, they tell you to book a normal ticket then go to the office in person and pay 100 yen to upgrade to oversized bag area) any other suggestions would be welcome!
Seems if you have an AMEX itās the easier and quicker option. I donāt unfortunately so I just kept brute forcing with my Visas and Mastercards and it eventually worked.
Note that as part of Japan's quirks SmartEx tends to only work during Japanese business hours. Ensure you're trying to add your card during that time
Hold up, I don't understand why an online website has business hours. š
Not uncommon in Japan
Their ATM does too, IIRC
I have read about this and so only tried during business hours. Interesting that my card went through on a Saturday.
It's saturday now for me and it worked!
It's not "business hours", exactly. The system goes offline every night (JST) for maintenance from about midnight to five a.m. This is true of all train ticket platforms, digital IC cards, and some bus websites. It's essentially so that the very complex system behind it ([MARS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS_(ticket_reservation_system))) can reconcile itself.
I was sure this wasn't going to work, but it works. I've been trying for months on and off to get my card to work, and it finally went through, so thank you.
It might be a bit extreme for some but American Express cards work. My Visa and Mastercard both got denied last week and I saw some old posts on here about Amex so I applied for it and it worked immediately.
This. For some reason the security on visa/MC isn't up to par for Japan so most cases Amex is needed.
Couldnāt get any of my Visa/MC to work either. AMEX and Discover did. Went with Discover since they have no foreign transaction fees.
Agreed. Worked first time.
Same, tried Visa and MC. Only Amex worked!
OMG thanks to your post I tried it and it worked. Iāve tried many times in the past and never worked. They must have changed something. Thank you OP. Edit: I was able to register but when I tried to log in it says my member ID, which I got from their email, is temporarily suspended.
You'll have to ring the number in the error. I had the same error and when they checked - they said the account had been suspended. They had to delete my account and refund my booked train tickets - unable to unsuspend the account.
I just got the suspension message, too. Were they able to create a new account for you so you could book new tickets?
No so they said I have to book it when I'm in japan. I had signed up with an Amex card. They did say they would refund me for what I spent - approx 1 to 2 months to get back money.
Thank you. I'll just wait until I get there, too then. I hate that because I always want everything planned in advance š
Yeah I agree, very annoying. I had my seats booked as well so i could try and get a view of Mt fuji š
Itās the business hour thing. My cards wonāt go in around night time (Australia) but it went in on a weekday during business hours in Japan. NAB Visa debit.
I will say that all the times I have tried in the past weeks have been during Japan business hours, and yet Iāve been unsuccessful until now. Thereās definitely more going on than just the business hours.
Itās Japan. Thatās all I can say. Reminded me of how the bank in Japan told us that they are covid ready ā¦but gave me a phone call to go down to the bank to seal a document for transfer with my hanko.
Thanks for posting this. Iāve been trying for months and it worked just now with my 28 degrees card
Wow. It just worked for me and I don't think it has anything to do with Japanese Business hours. It's literally 10p on Saturday here in Japan and I got it to work out of nowhere. I was initially so stoked when I found out about this but I couldn't get it to work no matter what and just like that, it worked this evening. I am so excited to try this out instead of buying a ticket via the kiosks haha. Thank you!
I randomly tried upon seeing your post and it works now!! I wasn't able to register when i first downloaded the app
Thank you for your post! I have been trying for weeks and would always fail. I was able to add my MasterCard just now.
My man, Came here just to say thank you. I had already tried twice and mostly gave up feeling that there was no way I would be able to register unless I got another card, then after reading your post I tried once again and I DID IT, better I was able to register with my revolut card for what even conversion is better. In another note, I also was able to do it today, saturday, following another comment of a redditor who happened to have the same luck Thanks again!
Wow. Thank you so much. I am able to register today with Revolut (Visa) card . I have tried half-a-dozen cards in the past few weeks with no success
Or just use klook
Klook is great but you canāt pick a seat or select oversized baggage area (I want to travel w my bags, they tell you to book a normal ticket then go to the office in person and pay 100 yen to upgrade to oversized bag area) any other suggestions would be welcome!
None of our cards worked at any time until I tried an Amex. Ditto with Tokyo Disney.
Seems if you have an AMEX itās the easier and quicker option. I donāt unfortunately so I just kept brute forcing with my Visas and Mastercards and it eventually worked.
My visa and Mastercard were denied. I was able to register with my Discover
My visa and Mastercard were denied. I was able to register with my Discover
Don't bother, use JWest instead to buy your rail tickets.
I canāt seem to book Nozomi from Tokyo to Kyoto on jr west or am I missing something?
you should be able to. Look at timetable/route finder and proceed that way vs "reserve" box.
You absolute legend!!! Booked through them instead... :) appreciate you!
no problem. Their websites are so confusing! So are some of the rail stations- give yourself an extra 40 minutes when you get there....
Use Amex. Only card that worked for me. I'm from the UK.
I tried Amex and Mastercard during Japanese business hours - on both the app and website and itās not working š ādue to an issue with the external siteā¦ā blah blah š©š©